The Flowers Fell
by shadowchild25
Summary: Rose Weasley has gone missing, the latest in a string of disappearances that has been picking up speed, and Lily Potter will do anything to save her, even if it means she will be taken too.
1. It begins

**This seems random, but I'm setting the scene, so bear with me!**

_November, 1994_

Fleur Delacour, Triwizard champion, made her way through the crowd. She was determined to get Cedric Diggory to go with her to the Yule Ball. Random boys began asking her, almost desperately, as she began to gather her Veela powers to do some, ah , _gentle_ persuading. One boy, a red head, the one who seemed to hang over that child champion, Harry Potter, suddenly blurted a request, and Fleur couldn't help herself, she laughed cruelly, glaring at him. Then another boy, with light sking but a dark and clouded aura, also added his own request, but his wasn't wild, as though perhaps he wasn't affected by her Veela magic. "My lady," he said charmingly, "would you do me the honor…"

"No," she said shortly, not just because she had a real target in mind, but also because this boy, already over halfway to manhood, made her uncomfortable. She passed him by and put him out of mind.

She left behind a passive face, hiding a dark and dangerous seething mass of fury. At the Yule Ball, the gorgeous Daphne Greengrass was at his side, but even that was not enough to calm his anger, which steadily grew.

Fleur herself, flower of the court, finished school with the memory of the Tournament still haunting her. She returned to England to find closure, and fell in love. The Yule Ball became nothing more than a memory, while it consumed another.

_______

_March, 1996- November 1998_

Astoria looked at her longtime boyfriend. "You lied to me," she snapped. His mouth raised into a grimace, mocking her.

"What I do with my time is my own business."

She wheeled on him in fury. "If you're shagging someone other than your girlfriend, it's a problem, and it's your girlfriend's business as well, especially when it's her _sister_ you're shagging," she hissed. "You told me you got over her, that she was never more than a date to the ball."

He merely shrugged. "You weren't available, by your own choice. You can't blame me for going elsewhere to get what my girlfriend should have given me freely."

Her hand acted of its own accord, slicing through the air to connect solidly with his face. For a moment, his black eyes sparked, she saw the emotions, and she knew she should be scared. She was scared.

"There is nothing wrong with me for choosing not to sleep with someone while still in school. You couldn't wait for me, and now you'll never have me."

She turned her back, half expecting a curse that never came. Two years later Harry Potter defeated the Dark Lord once again, and her ex-boyfriend vanished. She wondered, vaguely, if he'd joined them, become a Death Eater, like so many other boys from the years above her. But then she couldn't wonder anymore, because she'd become something like a counselor to the younger students, at the request of Headmistress McGonagall, who'd taken over the running of the school until a more permanent headmaster could be found, and she could leave the school that held so many sad memories for her and her fellow teachers. At McGonagall's suggestion, Astoria had organized a program with a few guest speakers, to teach the younger students of the horrors of the wars. She'd been leary of inviting Draco Malfoy, but McGonagall had suggested him as well, and she had to admit that his perspective, as one of only two former Death Eaters not currently in Azkaban, definitely would hold some weight in the program.

He'd shown up silently, barely speaking to anyone as he walked the halls of his former institution. She'd shown him to his place and told him where he fell in the schedule with equal reserve. He'd followed speeches by Harry Potter and Andromeda Tonks.

Andromeda Tonks had escorted her nephew Draco onto the platform. "There is hope for this world," she told the hall, which had gone silent. The air seemed frigid with the response of the people within it, and Draco lowered his head to the floor. "And part of this hope lies with the actions of a few. Far more often than not, my nephew did not do as he should have. But when it mattered, when it counted, he acted to save the life of Harry and his friends, kept an ambiguity as to their identity that assisted their escape. He came here to speak with you on his change. He came not to ask for forgiveness for his actions, because he has been at least partly forgiven by those who mattered, whose lives he affected directly and indirectly. He comes to you willingly. Listen to him with respect." She squeezed his shoulder and glared at the crowd in a way that made her look more like Bella than she usually did.

"I don't deserve your respect," Draco corrected. "Nothing I've done was worthy of respect, although Harry would argue differently," he shrugged. "I am Draco Malfoy, and my actions led to the death of Albus Dumbledore. I acted out of fear for my family and myself, but I acted, and I am the only one responsible for my actions. I have Dumbledore to thank for my soul. I have never killed a man, but I have seen death, and haven't spoken for the part of the dead. I have been cruel."

He took a deep, shuddering breath. "Death Eaters did what they did for heartless reasons. They took pleasure from the pain of others. If I might ask, how many of you are muggle born or half bloods?" A large percentage of students raised their hands, and he nodded. "I would have hated you once," he remarked easily, "because I'd been told from birth that I was better than you. I slapped a girl once for talking to me, because she was not worthy to look upon me." He said this all with a straight face, and Astoria cringed, remembering that day, back in her first year, when Draco and her sister were in their second. "I took pleasure from seeing her cry. I was heartless, for no reason. None of them deserved that, none of the people I treated cruelly. Back then, I was ruled by arrogance that was longstanding in my family. Later, I was ruled by fear that was new to me. I was used to being the highest, Slytherin's prince. Suddenly, I was the lowest on a totem pole, and that put me in danger. So I did things I regret. I lost someone I'd considered a friend, although I saw how my cruel treatment of them made our ties of friendship out of thread, instead of steel, when they turned on me, in the end. I owe my life to Harry Potter, a life I nearly lost in the fire set by my friend. It consumed him. He, like me, had lived for cruelty, for seeing the pain of others. He died trying to keep in place a cruel overlord. We did terrible things. We saw terrible things, we were terrible people. We lost part of ourselves in service to Him. I lost my innocence, Goyle lost his freedom, and Crabbe lost his life. Even on his side, there was no loyalty from the top down, it was only subservience. Life in his service was cutthroat. People in his service would work with you until you fell in his eyes. There is no honor among thieves, it is said. But there is less honor among murderers, following a sadistic dictator. In the end, I survived because I didn't choose a side, because I remained aloof, while people died for both sides. I survived because I hid, I appealed to both sides, and I was saved by others who were far more honorable for me. I was saved by the people I hated, the people my Lord hated."

"I will never free myself of the shame of my actions, but I hope I will find inner peace one day. The sounds of the battle will always haunt me, long after I can no longer hear anything else. My actions will haunt me, long after I am no longer able to move. I will receive judgment one day, and I can only hope that my attempts to redeem myself will help me. That talking to you, telling you that nothing good comes of hatred, for either side, will make a difference, will change something, will prevent you from taking a stand like Tom Riddle did, from gathering followers like my aunt Bellatrix. I hope to be half the man Sirius Black was, half the man Regulus Black became during his final act of rebellion against the man I still fear, months after his death. And I hope you hear my message and take it to heart. I hope you look at the child you used to hate and try to see the good in them. Reach out to the person you've scorned. You might be pleasantly surprised by what you learn when you take hate out of your life."

He hesitated. "My mother and I have been helping at an orphanage. A little girl there calls me her hero. She will be disillusioned one day, but to her, my sins don't exist. To her, I am simply the man who saved her brother from a fall from a tree that could have been deadly. Try looking through her eyes, for one day, seeing a person only for what they do that day, not for their prior actions or their House or their appearance or where their magical abilities come from. See them for them. Regain the innocence of a child, if only for that day, and use it to move past the horrible events that have occurred. Help the wizarding world move on."

He inclined his head to the crowd, murmuring thanks to them for listening to him. He slipped off the platform to a silent crowd. George Weasley was scheduled to go next, and he'd stood in the shadows looking thoughtful through Draco's speech. He was the one who started clapping, but Draco had already left, and didn't hear the rest of the hall join George. It wasn't the applause that had accompanied Harry's entrance, but it was something concrete.

Astoria, seeing George take the stage, decided to move off after Draco. She found him standing in the middle of a room off the Great Hall, the same room she remembered from her Sorting, six long years ago. Draco's back was turned to her, and his shoulders were shaking with silent sobs. Astoria stood back by the entrance, unsure of how to proceed.

"I'm not a good man, ma'am," he said, and she was surprised that he knew it was a woman who had entered. "You invited me here knowing that. But I have grown, I'm not completely ashamed to be caught crying."

He turned to her, grey eyes red. He showed no surprise to see her, so she figured he'd known exactly who she was. "You're a better man than they think you are," she finally decided to say, "and probably than you give yourself credit for," she said, suddenly sure that it was true.

He sighed, closing his eyes. "You don't know, don't understand."

"I could though, if you ever wanted to talk about it," she replied. "I'm sure you're short on understanding people in your life."

He'd just shrugged, but by that point she'd been intrigued. She'd sent him letters, until he'd replied. She'd initiated the friendship, though she never meant for it to go further. He'd confessed secrets of his life to her, his painful visits to Azkaban to visit his father and former best friend, the nights his mother sobbed herself to sleep, and later, when he trusted her more, the nights he'd sobbed himself to sleep as well. He spoke of his break-up with his longtime girlfriend Pansy, because she still held within herself the ideals of Lord Voldemort, and he couldn't deal with that. Astoria became his therapist as well, and she unconsciously began to move her studies in a similar direction, while her professors watched knowingly. Minerva McGonagall remarked upon it, one evening while hosting her dear friends Augusta Longbottom and Andromeda Tonks for a late tea, and the others had used their influence with the Ministry to begin a special division for Grief Counseling within St. Mungo's. When she'd graduated, Astoria'd been asked to head the division the year after it opened, provided she take courses in muggle and magical grief counseling during her first year, while Augusta and Andromeda co-headed in her place. Draco volunteered his time at St. Mungo's as well, and Astoria made a point of forcing him to eat once a day in the hospital tea room. They'd moved to an even closer friendship in person, and Astoria gradually realized how much she cared for the boy. It was unusual, and people questioned her judgment when she began asking the Malfoy boy to accompany her around town. It was Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley, occasional volunteers with the magical hospital, who'd hinted to Draco that he ask Astoria out, and who'd informed Astoria that Draco felt unworthy of her when he'd laughed grimly and told them such.

So it was Astoria who'd slapped Draco across the face one evening when he'd escorted her home and nearly left without kissing her. It was also Astoria who'd kissed Draco firmly. It took awhile, but eventually she convinced him to cut himself enough slack to let himself love her back. She'd used every weapon in her arsenal, and Andromeda, observing Astoria's methods once during a routine checkup for Teddy, had to laugh at the similarities between Astoria and her own dear Dora, amused by the similarities between Draco and Remus as well, in steadfastly trying to save the people they loved from his own view of himself. "She'll win him eventually," she confided to Teddy, who'd babbled happily, spitting a little, and turned his hair green, "just like your mummy."

Astoria did, much to the confusion of the majority of the population. Such a bright and beautiful girl, wasting herself on that slimeball, they whispered. They'd judged her, her husband, and eventually her son, who walked his own path at Hogwarts and became a Ravenclaw, though he made friends with Hufflepuffs, Slytherins and Gryfindors alike, embodying the message his father had delivered years before his birth, the message Harry Potter himself preached. But there was too much of his Father in his looks, too much anger and hatred towards the family name, that the wizarding world would never understand.

____________________

_February, 2000_

Viktor Krum swung off his broom unhappily. Being back in England this weekend was bringing back painful memories of the Tournament, the ruined wedding, and the loss of a great girl, albeit to a good man.

"Hey, Krum" he heard a laughing bark from someone in the business, who were the only ones privileged enough to come to special practices like this one.

Viktor turned and was pleased to see a fellow seeker, Aiden Lynch, whom he had beat in his first World Cup, though the other team had walked away with the cup. "Ta only man ta Wronski Feint me," the man's Irish brogue brought a smile on the Bulgarian's face, even though he had to work twice as hard as usual to understand the English.

"Ya, that's right," Viktor replied. "How are you?"

"Good, man," the man's smile was quick and easy. "me last year, mate," he added, somewhat sadly. "'ad a couple o' injuries that are puttin' me out of the competitive sercles, but Ah've been asked to help train newbies for ta Irish team, and to stay on as a reserve o' sorts." He regarded Viktor with interest, leaning one arm on a railing and looking straight at Krum, his other hand resting on his hip.. "Come tad is party I'm t'rowing tonight. It'll be fun. Take yer mind off whate'er troubles have your face in t'at frown."

"I'd like that," Vicktor responded, and he meant it. And that night, when his new friend Aiden introduced him to his sister Caroline, Viktor was very pleased he'd gone. Three years later, he made his now best friend and almost brother-in-law his best man. And the world of Viktor Krum, famous seeker, was good again.

**This evolved a lot from the original... I'm not sure I should have added his speech, or the after part. Originally Astoria's part ended with the ex-boyfriend leaving. But I like the idea of Draco trying to change. I promise, it will all come together in the end!**


	2. Violets and Sorting

Victoire Weasley didn't like violets, and the only person she wanted flowers from knew that. So when the flowers began arriving, she threw them away. They didn't come from Teddy, and they didn't come from her family, so she assumed they weren't from anyone of any importance in her life.

She spent every moment of her day with Teddy, and had for almost as long as she could remember, except for the years when he'd left her to go to school. She'd spent her entire first year at Hogwarts by his side, the shy girl whose natural beauty had brought unwanted attention from multiple people. And when her roommates had become cruel as a result, she'd begun living in his room in secret, sleeping side by side with her childhood friend.

That had stopped due to an unfortunate night where McGonagall had found them. They'd only escaped punishment because Teddy was suffering from the effects of the full moon that night, and they'd lied and said that she only stayed with him when his part-werewolf genes made life difficult. However, because this was the first his Head of House or any adult had heard of this condition, he'd ended up spending full moons in the Hospital Wing, with Victoire in the nearest bed to keep him company.

He'd discovered during one awful night where a duel brought in multiple injured people that he loved helping people, healing people. That was why Victoire was still able to spend every day with him, even though he'd graduated the year before that. He was assisting Madame Pomfrey for the year, learning how to treat people as he would in the field, before he began Auror training. And he had his own quarters now.

Sleeping with him, in the platonic sense, that is, had continued even after they were caught by McGonagall, especially after Harry gave them the Invisibility cloak, though he didn't know how they used it. There had been a rocky patch in his sixth year, where he'd started dating a girl who took their occasional night together in the wrong way. Where he'd started dating period, and that had for some unknown reason made her angry.

She wasn't angry anymore. He'd stopped dating and went back to being her best mate in his last year. She knew that they weren't just friends, but they weren't together either. They'd never snogged, though the occasional kiss had been happening for years (and not just during the holidays, under the mistletoe). She'd rejoined him in his room that entire year, as she'd been joining him in his private quarters this entire year. This was rather difficult to keep concealed, as her cousins James Potter and Fred Weasley had arrived, and were constantly popping in on Teddy. Again, the Invisibility Cloak was coming in handy, though Teddy planned on passing it on to James after this year, although Harry hadn't been specific about when it should change hands, and probably would rather Teddy wait until James was significantly older.

Victoire had no way of knowing that her constant attachment to her best friend was the reason she still had her freedom now.

"Malfoy, Scorpius," the Great Hall held its breath as the former Death Eater's son strode to the Sorting Hat. The Slytherin's smiled at each other expectantly. Two sets of eyes looked at him with something other than confidence that they knew where he was going. They'd sat with him on the train, and though he hadn't said much or been all that friendly, they'd both caught the flash of anger in his eyes as the name Slytherin came up, even in a good way. So when the Sorting Hat yelled "Ravenclaw," and the Hall sat stunned, two sets of hands started the clapping from the line of first years. The look Malfoy sent them as he made his way to the Ravenclaw table was suspicious, curious and grateful.

When Albus Potter was called to the Sorting Hat, he'd made up his mind to not tell the Hat where to put him. So he knew when the Hat shouted Gryffindor that it meant he was truly a Gryffindor.

Rose Weasley approached the stool with her chin held high. Her Dad wanted her to be in his House, but her mother had smiled knowingly at her. It would be no surprise when she received the letter later that night that her daughter had been sorted into Ravenclaw.

Rose sat down in one of the seats next to Scorpius, who was being ignored by the people around him. "My name is Rose Weasley, I'm the first born of Ron and Hermione Weasley, and I do not expect to be just like them when I grow up, so you can just forget that. I am, however, awesomely smart like my mother and not too bad at Quidditch, like my father and aunt and uncles, and I'm related to Harry Potter's children, but that really means nothing, so please treat me and my friend Scorpius here like you would any other first year, okay?"

"You tell 'em, Rosie," her cousin Victoire said, sitting down across from them. "Spoken like a true Weasley."

"Amusing," Scorpius said. "You have the ability to tell people not to stress about your relations while at the same time invoking the names of those same relations to make yourself heard."

Rose bristled. "Yeah, I know how to be manipulative. Your point?"

Scorpius grinned and ignored her anger. "It's just an amusing quality. One more suited to my family than yours, I'm afraid."

Rose didn't know what to say to that. Victoire smiled into her goblet. She didn't know why exactly, but these two already reminded her of Rose's parents, and they'd barely met. She almost wished she weren't in her last year here. It would be fun to watch these two together.

Suddenly Albus appeared on Scorpius' other side. "Save me!" he said. "McLaggen's son is in our year." Rose began to giggle. "Don't you laugh. The first thing he did was tell me you and him would end up dating by fourth year." That stopped her giggles faster than any jinx could. "Anyways, I figured maybe you wouldn't mind if I ate here with you guys."

"On the first night? You should be making new friends," Victoire admonished, knowing she didn't really mean it.

Albus brushed that off. "They'll want to be my friends whether they think I'm antisocial or not, Vic. Famous dad, remember?"

She laughed and stood up. "Enjoy your meal, my little friends."

They did, and they had even more fun when they were joined by a blonde Hufflepuff who hesitated by them. "Umm, Albus Potter?" she whispered, making him whip his head around. She stuck out a hand. "I'm Hallie. Hallie Dursley?"

His cousin was welcomed to sit with them, and was assimilated into the group, which by the end of the term had picked up a Slytherin named Parker who'd known Scorpius growing up and a Gryffindor girl named Kadybell Jordan. ("My Mom's nickname. She was passed out from the delivery, so my Dad named me. I go by Bella, thank Merlin!"). The six first years held their own against a school that was confused by them. They were even able to beat James and Fred (assisted by fellow second years Allison Longbottom and Allissa Wood) at a prank war by the time their winter break had rolled around.

That spring tragedy struck.


	3. Daisies and Daffodils

**I own every part of the plot that does not involve magic, and only a few of the characters, who unfortunately belong more to their parents than to me, and their parents belong to JK Rowling, so I own the plot beneath the magic and not much else.**

Dominique Weasley had a strong affinity for the moon. She knew that it caused her dad no small amount of discomfort when it was full, same as it did for Teddy Lupin, her sister's boyfriend since the middle of last year. But for Dominique, like for Victoire, the moon was a thing of great beauty and power, the dominant body in the night sky. Intellectually, Dominique knew that the moon was small and insignificant compared to the stars, but in the night sky it looked like it could swallow the puny stars whole.

Dominique had come out here to contemplate the moon tonight because she'd received a dozen daisies today, on her bed. She knew the others from the dorm wouldn't have delivered them without an explanation, and no one else would have come into her dorm. Six of the dozen were fresh. The other six were in various stages of death, and she recognized them as the ones she'd been getting (and throwing away) for the past six weeks. She couldn't help but be afraid of what they could mean. She couldn't imagine what exactly they could mean.

So she'd taken her broom and gone for a midnight flight. She'd knocked on Victoire's window, but Victoire hadn't been there. So Dominique just flew.

She was in the middle of a lap around the Quidditch Pitch, imagining next year, when the Keeper and Captain would be graduating, and she could change positions on the team, and perhaps be Captain herself. She expected to have Albus Potter joining then as well. He was a far better Seeker than she'd ever seen, except when Uncle Charlie and Uncle Harry were playing against each other when the family had matches. For now, they had Albus beat, but he and James had inherited both of their parent's prodigious skills on a broom, so they would, with training, be far better than Harry and Ginny some day, because they'd grown up on the handle, as well as been Quidditch naturals. She'd miss this feeling though, as keeper. The feel of the wind through her hair as she raced around the pitch like she was doing now. But she was better as a Keeper than she was as a Chaser, and between the other opening for Chaser and the one she'd create by switching, she could invite Deanna Finnigan and Sean Thomas to join together. They'd be third years then, and fourth years in Dominique's last year, so she wouldn't have to deal with the awkward age they'd hit in fifth year. She predicted they'd be dating sometime after that, but not before. Dominique couldn't help but grin at that. Their moms and dads had all been friends in their days at Hogwarts, and they lived next door to one another now, which was part of the reason why Deanna and Sean acted more like twins than like friends or neighbors. They'd be about as good a pair of Chasers as James and Fred were as Beaters. With Albus as Seeker, Dominique's team would take home the Cup both years, and they'd break records doing so.

She put in a burst of speed, exultant at the thought of the next few years. She wasn't thinking about the flowers, didn't hear the shout, didn't see the red light. She felt the curse hit her though, felt fear as she felt herself falling off the broom. Unconsciousness hit her before she hit the ground.

The next morning, her roommates would find her missing. Her sister would suspect where she'd been the night before. They'd find her broom and her wand and no trace of her. A search would be started, would continue for a month at the school, through the forest. The Aurors who searched would find the traces of a struggle in a clearing, but they'd never find Dominique. The search would never truly end, but it would never be fruitful, until even Harry Potter, the girl's uncle, would have to halt the search, closing the box with all the evidence with heaviness in his heart, and flooing to Shell Cottage with tears in his eyes.

It was a Slytherin, the next year, who vanished. Elizabeth Smith, daughter of Zacharias Smith and Daphne Greengrass. There was no evidence of who took her, and no evidence that the cases were linked. Astoria Malfoy was one of the people allowed to see one of the possible crime scenes in her position as grief counselor, and because she was the girl's aunt.

Teddy Lupin handed her a small box. "It's a digital camera, my fair cousin," he explained with a small grin. "George Weasley fixed it up to work magically. Takes moving pictures, sure, but with such high detail that you can zoom in and see the mandibles of ants eating crumbs five yards away from the person you're focusing on. Kinda nasty, but good for crime work. We've got a few, because we like having two people take the pictures, because different people think different things could be important. Usually Vic and I get this job, but she's busy at her last fitting for the wedding dress."

"Yes, I saw the invitation," Astoria began, unsure of how to proceed with this cousin she didn't know all that well.

"I really hope you'll come. You're family, you know. I know Gran would be pleased if all five of you came, you know, Narcissa and Draco and you and the kids. When's the littlest coming to Hogwarts?"

Astoria smiled. "Andromeda will be attending next year, but the littlest two will be coming in about eleven years and seven months," she laughed softly, making Teddy's eyes pop with surprise.

"Right around when mine will be attending," he said in a whisper. "Just found out last night!"

"Well, good thing the wedding's right around the corner then," Astoria replied, glad to have this cheerful young Auror present to take her mind off the horrible thing that had occurred.

"Yes it is. Congratulations on the twins. I'd really appreciate it if you guys came to the wedding."

"Then we will," she tilted her head at him. "You made me happy."

"I know how this feels," Teddy replied with a shrug. "We lost Dom last year, when she was Elizabeth's age. Sometimes you need to think about life, when it seems that everything is dark around you. I'm living proof that life goes on throughout dark times. Harry's always called me a beam of light in the dark. I try to live up to that," he began to take pictures of the scene.

"Hard on you sometimes, I'm sure," Astoria replied, mimicking his actions, shooting the bed frame, where she was amused to see a heart with DG + ZS. She knew it was her sister's handwriting, from the days when her sister was secretly seeing Zacharias Smith. That was when Daphne had been in her last year at Hogwarts, when Snape was the Headmaster. She'd been cheating on the boy who cheated on Astoria while seeing Smith. Then Daphne had taken her relationship with Smith public. Everyone knew the scandal, except Daphne's boyfriend, who'd fallen off the radar. Astoria took a picture of the little carving, just because, before taking a picture of a vase of daffodils sitting by Elizabeth's bedstand.

"I have Victoire for when I need to break down. Everyone else has me, the eternal optimist, even in the face of cruelty and injustice. Of tragedy like this." He indicated the empty bed, his face in a frown. "You were a Slytherin?" he asked, morphing his face to look like hers and changing her hair to a green and silver streaked mess. She was shocked at first, before laughing.

"There you go again, huh? And I was Ravenclaw, actually."

He turned his- her- hair blue and bronze while shrugging. "I'm naturally better able to make people laugh, between my klutziness and ability to change my appearance at will. And Scorpius makes a bit more sense now."

They both laughed, and went back to work. When they finished, Teddy sat back and nodded confidently. "Between these and the girl's memories of waking up the morning she disappeared, we should have a decent visual record of the crime scene. Harry will reconstruct the room in his second office with Hermione's help, and he and Ron will act out what happened until they've got it right. I usually get pulled in right about the time when they need a victim, being in training and all. Although I'm dead useful when they have a witness who's seen the perp." He frowned.

"Let me guess, they have you change your features to match the guy?"

"Or girl, unfortunately. You really are a Ravenclaw, aren't you?"

He escorted her out, slinging an arm around her shoulder in camaraderie. She had to laugh at his boyish charm, and was laughing when they exited the Slytherin common room, to find a group of students that included her son waiting for them.

"Hey Scorp," Teddy teased his younger cousin, "Your mum's pretty awesome. I've decided to steal her, make her my mum. She says she makes excellent chocolate chip cookies. I figure they'd probably be better than Ginny's even."

"She lies," Scorpius grinned back, recognizing Teddy's teasing from Albus and Rose's stories of him, just as Albus muttered "that's not that hard." They looked at each other with matching grins, as though having mothers who couldn't cook worth a darn made them almost like brothers.

"Dad's are better," they said at the same time, before laughing briefly.

But they'd come here with a purpose. "You guys find anything in there?" Albus asked.

"Nah, nothing yet, not that I could tell you if we did."

"We were hoping maybe you knew something that could help find Dom, if Elizabeth was taken by the same person," Rose murmured.

"We don't know enough about Dom's disappearance to say for certain whether these are linked," Teddy warned Rose, putting his hands on her shoulders and crouching down slightly to be on a level with her. She usually didn't like to be treated like she was young (or short), but Teddy always talked with his cousins by getting down on their level. "I promise if we find anything conclusive, we'll tell you. All of you," he said, including Scorpius and Albus and the other Weasley and Greengrass cousins who were standing there. "Auror Harry Potter is taking these disappearances seriously. He will do everything in his power to find these girls. I promise."

**I'm officially on Spring Break and have little to do except look for a job and laze by the beach (I 3 Florida), so I'll probably update soon. Tell me what you think!**


	4. Pansies and Asters

**Pansies and Asters**

Everyone lived in fear of more disappearances, but the year ended with nothing unusual happening beyond what would normally be expected from Hogwarts. They went eleven months with no word from or of either victim, but with no further losses. Meanwhile, Kristin Jordan, Andromeda Malfoy, Hugo Weasley and Lily Potter joined the proud ranks of Gryffindors, gathered up a few more friends in Ravenclaw twins Lysander and Lorcan Scamander, and started a third group to rival those of Lily's older brothers.

Then spring break came, and Parker Evanson, son of Pansy Parkinson, never came back to school. He and his mother had disappeared completely, as if they'd never existed, but not as though Pansy had taken off, not when all their things were still in place at their home. And the very next week, after a highly exciting match between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor that ended in a loss for Gryffindor, whose Keeper, Alissa Wood, had taken a brutal blow to the stomach from a Bludger, Ravenclaw's party had been interrupted by a scream from the boy's dormitory.

"I went up to find Scorpius, and he was gone!" Rose Weasley sobbed into her cousin's shoulder, when they'd brought him up to her. "He left a note, Al, under a vase of asters. It said not to look for him, that he was going to join Parker, because he knew where he was. He didn't want to stay here anymore. But Al, he would have said something to us, right?"

The Aurors had to conclude that he'd left of his own free will. His broom was gone, which would explain how he'd left without anyone from the party seeing him. If it had been related to the other disappearances, they would have had the tightest timeline yet, but it wasn't. The boy had packed a few things. "I think he ran away, Rosie," Ron Weasley told his daughter sadly.

"He didn't. He wouldn't." Rose denied. "It has to be a trick. He wouldn't leave me."

Ron was surprised by her vehemence. Astoria and Draco Malfoy said the same thing, but the presence of the note made it hard for them to connect this crime to the others, if it was a crime at all.

"The signs are there, that he's a runaway," Harry agreed angrily, "but it doesn't make sense. I've met Scorpius. He wouldn't do this, not to Rose or Albus. He wouldn't take off and only leave a note."

"I agree," Neville said, sitting back in the purple armchair Harry had conjured for him. "Scorpius was smarter than that. And Merlin, how he protected Rose. You couldn't imagine a better friend than him, Ron, even though I know you didn't like it to begin with. He and Rose were as close as you and Hermione were at that age. They fought like you too."

Ron's face turned red. "That's supposed to make me like the bloke? He's a Malfoy. Hermione and I got married. You'd compare me and my wife with my daughter and that boy?"

Harry laughed silently while Neville just grinned. "Unfortunately, the point's moot now," Ron said suddenly, rising angrily from his chair and beginning to pace. "The boy either took off or someone wanted to make it look like he did. And because the public is more worried about the girls, they don't want us to waste our time on Draco Malfoy's runaway son. So I can't even tell my daughter we're doing everything we can to find her friend, because we don't have enough resources to do so."

"The department doesn't have the resources, maybe," Harry began, "but that doesn't mean that we don't have the resources. We have plenty of people who might be willing to help us out. Victoire is going stir crazy at her and Teddy's place, not being able to work but not having enough to do. Teddy said he had to eat four different dinners last Wednesday because she was so bored she did nothing but cook. Nicole is too well mannered an infant."

Ron grinned. "Daughters are so much easier first children than sons, aren't they?" he teased, exchanging a wink with Neville.

Harry laughed back. "Yes, although I don't know whether we would have had more than one if Lily had come first. James was quite the handful though. Not that Ginny would have been able to make dinner. All those years in your mother's house, and she never learned how to cook," Harry shook his head.

"It was rebellion, actually. She didn't want to do what Mum said," Ron shrugged.

"That's what Scorpius's note said, right?" Neville asked slowly, thinking it over in his head.

"Yeah, that he didn't want to listen to his parents anymore. He was very angry at his parents."

"But they had a good relationship. A bit formal between him and his dad, but if I've ever seen Draco in a genuinely open way, it was when he came to see Scorpius play a match against Slytherin. He was decked out in blue and silver, and so uncomfortable it was hilarious. But then he was shouting for his son, and when Scor helped win the game, Draco caught him up in this huge hug when he saw him, and they were both grinning like fools. Draco and Astoria weren't cruel to Scorpius in the least. He wasn't spoiled, but he was loved. Harry, the more I think about it, the more I think that Scorpius would never have written that note. Maybe whoever did wanted us to turn our anger towards Draco and Astoria. Or they wanted Draco and Astoria to be angry with each other, or angry at themselves."

Harry nodded. "I'll talk to some people I trust. Lavender and Parvati aren't working, are they?"

"Part time at St. Mungo's, last I heard, at the Dai Llewlyn Ward. They still have youngsters at primary school."

"But they'd know what we're talking about, they'd know Draco and Astoria."

"Most likely," Neville replied, looking at Harry curiously. But it was Ron who took up the idea, began talking out loud as he paced.

"Then let's get them in on this. I know Audrey gave up her job in London and now feels pretty useless at home, with the girls about to go to school next year. Looking over things and researching is right up her alley and doesn't require magic. She should be able to put a decent about of time into it. Fleur seems rather lost without the children around as well, although Bill told me she might be taking some job or another. And she and Victoire would particularly take care studying this case because of the possibility that Scorpius really was taken by the person who took Dom. I'd get Astoria in on it, but I think that would be too much like a slap in the face, telling her that the Ministry doesn't want us working on the case. We could use her help though."

Neville watched in amusement as Harry picked up a piece of parchment and began scribbling down names, adding facts, writing down numbers as well, while Ron talked. They hadn't changed much from school, with Ron still being a brilliant strategist and all that, but moments like this showed how much they had changed, bouncing ideas off each other, working in unison with each other, taking an idea and bringing it to life better than it had begun. Nearly thirty years after they first met, still looking nearly the same as they had at twenty nine, when they'd moved up in the ranks of the Ministry to the positions they had now. And it was odd to see Harry, the natural leader, sit back and take notes for his second-in-command.

"Here are the files we can give them," Harry replied easily, handing over the parchment. Ron looked at it and nodded to some, frowning at others, which surprised Neville, considering that they were only numbers. He figured perhaps it was because they were so high profile, that even sections of a file were memorized, but Ron frowned at a few for reasons that were explained in his next sentence.

"Why drag these old ones in?"

"If this connects to the Death Eaters in any way, those cases would give us an idea of who to look for or what styles, maybe a mentor of our kidnapper. If there is anything that goes along with any of our five M.I.A.'s, they'll be able to show us. Astoria's psych, she knows things."

Neville stood, surprising his friends. "I have a couple classes to teach tomorrow. I think Astoria's staying at the school this week, as a counselor. They have others too, because she's related to Scorpius and biased, but I think Rose has been visiting her. I know little Andromeda and Lily have spent every waking moment with Rose and Albus, supporting them through this hard time. Al's absolutely surrounded by women, now that both Parker and Scorpius are missing. You need to find them, and soon, or your poor son will drown in estrogen."

Harry smiled sadly. "Doing my best."

"It's all anyone can ask of you."

"If it's not good enough though," Harry said.

"Harry, I know you have the burning need to save people, but I'm telling you, I know they're still alive, and they will be when you find them, no matter when that happens to be. It will be alright."

"Thanks Neville. And sorry if we went a little out of it there."

"It was fun to watch. Circe help whoever has taken these children if Mione gets in a planning session with you. You three together have always been a force to be reckoned with.

Harry couldn't help but laugh as he walked Neville out of the door. "You'll help too, I'm sure?"

"Yes, of course, whatever Hannah and I can do, we will. I'll go see if Astoria would be willing to take on some work in any time the twins give her."

Neville left, and Harry and Ron set off to copy reports to send to their friends.

_______

Cedric was curious about the boy who'd shown up mysteriously at his school this term, quite unexpected by the majority of the school, though the teachers were accepting of him. He didn't speak the language, didn't talk much at all, actually, except to cast spells. He was reserved and looked peaky. Cedric liked the boy- he seemed like an honest sort, who was confused about where he was and why he was there. He was slowly picking up on the language, it seemed. He could always be found sitting at a table in the library, listening to a course on how to speak Bulgarian in a special kind of book that put suction cups over an ear so the words that were written could be heard. Ced was walking past him one day when he heard him muttering, "my name is- my name is" over and over again, trying to get the pronunciation right.

Cedric couldn't help but laugh, drawing the attention of the blond boy. "What exactly is your name? The teachers never say," he asked curiously.

The boy hesitated, trying to think it over, figuring out both what Cedric had said and what he should say back. "My name is-" he began, before gasping, "Krum!" The way he said it caught Cedric's attention. It was how his mother always said it, when she was telling him about his father's first World Cup.

"That's my name, actually," Cedric laughed, speaking perfectly accented English, to the boy's shock.

"Shh, they can't hear you talking to me like that," the boy hissed. Cedric was intrigued.

"Why?"

"I can't tell you."

"Who are you? What's your name?" Cedric asked again.

"Malfoy," the boy said quickly, then he blushed. "Parker," he said sheepishly.

"Which is it?" Cedric's eyes narrowed at the boy's furtive behavior.

"Parker Malfoy. Call me Park."

Cedric knew there was something strange about the boy, but he smiled anyways. "Cedric Krum. Call me Ced. I'll help you learn, in secret if you need."

"I'd like that."

**I have to apologize if there are too many names and things- I hope they all make enough sense within the Harry Potter world that you'll forgive me. If any of this seems insane, blame it on the fact that I went crazy at one last night and was writing until three something in the morning. I think I wrote three thousand words in that space of time- I was really in the zone, but I spent some time surfing the Harry Potter websites for some ideas so I probably could have written more. Anyways, if there are any mistakes that I made (wrong spelling of spells and names is a big one that I was too lazy to deal with last night, but it's one of my pet peeves in fanfiction. I'll try to catch everything for the next section I post)**


	5. Petunias

**Petunias**

Hallie Dursley sat on a park bench, staring into the past. She knew from the stories that it was here that her father and her cousin had gotten into a verbal fight once, on the way back to her dad's house. And during that argument, dementors had appeared.

She let out a sigh, burying her face in her hands. She'd known that her grandfather had hated Harry, and her dad had been cruel to him all through their youth, but her dad had met her mum while hiding from Lord Voldemort, and she'd saved him by performing an incredible feat of magic at one point. Love had blossomed in secret, through the danger, and eventually Hallie and her younger siblings had come from that love.

No matter how much she cared for her father though, she couldn't help but remember his cruel past, especially after she'd met Cousin Harry a few years ago. She'd taken a walk here to help her remember that there were things in life that weren't fair, but sometimes people made it even more unfair. Like Harry having to live with her Dad. And Scorpius and Parker having to leave.

People did strange things when they lost people they cared about. Rose had cried at first, but then she'd gotten cold. She'd run away from everyone who cared for her, had gotten on her broom and taken off every night, pushing herself around the pitch at speeds that weren't safe or healthy. Hallie'd been desperate to get away from the horror that was her life at school these days, with her friends losing their minds around her. Al wandered around as though lost, and Bella had begun fighting- with her fists even, anger rolling off of her, her dark skin and black hair a dark blur as she let off her fury with balled fists.

So here Hallie was, wandering an empty park on one of the coldest days of the year, even if her mother had put a warming spell on her before she left. She sat down on the swing and sighed again.

She saw the movement in the shadow and turned to whoever it was, then let out a scream that was cut off when the red bolt hit her, and she slumped unconscious to the ground.

___

Meghan Jones-Dursley Apparated to the street outside the former Black Family home with her husband in tow.

"Oy, Meghan, don't do that again, okay?" Dudley groaned, dropping to his knees. "At least give me some warning."

"Hallie's missing, Dudley, and you want me to give you some notice if I take you to someone who can help her?"

"Um, yeah, and you might've mentioned that our daughter was missing as well, right?" Dudley looked shocked and sprang to his feet with a grace that his bulk belied, his face draining of color.

Meghan ignored that oversight on her part, charging up to the front door, which looked considerably nicer since Harry and Ginny had moved in, and knocking insistently.

"I'll get it Dad!" came a girl's voice, and Lily Potter opened the door even as her father yelled for her to wait for him. "It's Hallie's mom and dad!" she yelled to her father, who Apparated to her side. "Hi Mr. and Mrs. Dursley," Lily said cheerfully. Her face fell as she realized that Meghan looked terrified.

"Hallie's missing," Meghan said quickly, and Harry's face paled as he opened the door up for the two of them to come in. "The children are still at the house, my mother was over tonight, but I want to get them somewhere else."

"I'll have Ron do it, hold on a moment," Harry sent a Patronus to his friend as he escorted his cousin and his wife into the sitting room, Summoning a piece of parchment as he did so. "Lily, get your mother and distract your brother. Watch a movie or something. Don't let him come down here."

It was too late, because Albus and James had both arrived in the doorway. James grabbed Al by the elbow to hold him up as Al's entire face went whiter than a sheet.

"Where was she last?" Harry asked, motioning his daughter to get Ginny.

"She left for the park in Little Whinging, the one you were at before the dementors came for us, two hours ago," Dudley began, looking over at his wife as Harry rattled off the address to another two patronuses and sent them to more Aurors.

"She was supposed to have been home thirty minutes ago. No one has been taken from their homes yet, Harry, I wasn't thinking of what could happen, I wasn't thinking!" Meghan nearly broke down right then and there, but she knew better. She looked at Harry with fear for her child in her eyes. "Have I done this to her?"

"No, of course not, but now we know that the children are not safe. She's officially the third victim," Harry swore violently.

Dudley sighed and buried his face in his hands. "I need to do something Harry, please let me do something," he murmured, to the surprise of his cousin and wife.

Ginny appeared in the doorway with a tray of tea, a cup of which she passed to Albus immediately, as James and Lily pulled him over to the other couch, off to the side. Ginny charmed three cups to fly to her husband, son and daughter as she offered the other two to Dudley and Meghan.

Harry had conjured a blackboard and was drawing out a timeline. "Did anything seem strange to you?"

"Besides the fact that she came home for Christmas, when she'd been planning on staying at school, no, nothing has seemed strange."

"Yeah, we weren't expecting Al home either," Ginny said, looking over at her son, who looked broken. She summoned a bar of chocolate from the kitchen, and Al took it, looking grateful. "We got into a fight," he began.

"You and Hallie?" Harry asked, raising his wand to put another mark on the board.

"Rose and Hallie, then I got in the middle of it."

"Bad idea, mate, girls can get vicious in a fight," said Ron's voice as he emerged from the kitchen. "The kids and Hestia are at the Burrow, Meghan. Hello, Dudley."

Dudley nodded back to Ron, staring at the board Harry'd conjured.

"Did Rose tell you about the fight?"

"No, Gin, she was pretty silent when she came home. Then again, she's always been rather quiet these days. Do you know what they fought about, Al?"

"No, I just know that it got bad. Rose was furious, and Hallie was crying. Rose ended up yelling at me, and then Hallie was mad at me when I said something to Rose. I shouldn't have said it, but then it was all messed up. Bella showed up in the middle of it all and, oh, it was terrible. It should never have happened, Dad, but everyone was so mad at each other."

"I'll get Rose," Ron said darkly, "do you think we'll need Bella?"

"She didn't know anything," Al said quickly, as Ron disappeared.

"Should the kids still be here?" Ginny asked Harry softly, but Lily and James glared at her anyways.

"Yeah, they need to know what's going on," Harry answered back. "When was the fight?"

"The week before holidays," Albus replied quickly.

"And it got bad?"

"Bella slapped them when they wouldn't stop fighting, and then Rose shot canaries at her, and Hallie was angry at Rose and Bella and a table rose into the air and flew at them all, though they all ducked, so I don't know who did that."

"You did," James snorted, "accidental table levitation has always been your area of expertise."

"I wouldn't want to hurt them though."

"You never hurt anyone when you did it, you just scared them."

"Well, this one didn't scare them. They were all still going at it, and I got a few curses for my troubles."

"Albus Potter, you told my Dad about the fight?" Rose raged as she entered the room. Dudley and Meghan looked at each other in despair as a wolf patronus came through the window and spoke with Teddy's voice.

"Harry, we found her wand and not much more. She did a bit of accidental magic though, we think, because there's a swing that is a bit singed. Good thing she did, too, because some of that magic bounced off the Stunner the perp sent at her, so we know how he's doing this and we've got a probable directionality on the attack. Asshole stuns them from behind. I'm coming to the house soon, stopping by way of Astoria's, to see if she saw anything in her reports that would indicate that this is a specific person that we could trace."

"Rose, what was the fight about?" Ron asked, following her into the room, "we need to know, because Hallie's gone missing."

James flung the pillow next to him under his cousin right in time to catch her from her dead faint.

"You sure you shouldn't be a Chaser there?" His mother couldn't help but blurt, shock on her face as she stooped to help Rose up, muttering Ennervate under her breath.

"Flowers," Rose murmured as she got up. "We argued about flowers. She had a vase of them, petunias. A dozen pretty flowers from a secret admirer, and she wasn't giggly or anything, but still, she shouldn't have put them in the vase. She should wait for him."

"For who?" Dudley and Harry exchanged surprised but amused glances for their simultaneous question.

"For Parker," Albus answered simply. "Parker used to like Hallie, and we figured she liked him back. I don't think she wanted the flowers though, Rose."

"They were in a vase."

"Petunias? Hallie hates petunias."

"Ironic, considering her grandmother's name."

"No, not completely ironic. She's not too fond of my mother either."

"Could they have been a gift from Aunt Petunia?"

"No, Mum never sends the kids gifts. I think she would, if Dad would let her. I think if it weren't for him, she would have gotten to the point where she was ready to embrace the kids, and maybe ask for forgiveness from you, but as it is, she hasn't yet. Mom wouldn't have sent the flowers."

"Then we're back to square one. We should get pictures of Hallie's room, and the dorm. I'll get a team to Hogwarts tomorrow, and I'll send Vic over to the house tonight. I'll stop by the place tomorrow. Do you guys want to stay here tonight? We'll get protective charms around the place tomorrow, but tonight you should stay in our guest room."

Dudley and Meghan agreed, walked upstairs with Ginny, while Harry turned to his timeline and began filling in dates. Ron looked down at the children.

"Rose, Al, are you going to be okay?"

Rose stood. "I'll be fine, Daddy. It's not like we're not used to this by now," she said coldly, turning away from him and Albus both and beginning to walk to the door, her mane of red hair effectively hiding her from view.

Ron sighed and looked at Albus, who looked steadily back as he asked, "did it feel like this, during the war?" Rose froze midstep.

Harry and Ron exchanged quick glances.

"Worse, mostly. This man stuns, so he isn't simply out to kill. We don't know what he's doing to the girls, but maybe he is letting them live, and we hope for that beyond all things. So we'll try our hardest, won't we, to save them, because we still have hope for them. But this feels most like it did during our second year."

"The Chamber of Secrets?" James asked softly.

Ron nodded, a grimace on his face, his eyes aging in remembered grief. "People were getting petrified, and you never knew whether you could be next. The teachers didn't seem to have much information. It was scary, thinking you couldn't be safe in the only place that had ever felt more secure than the warm place under your covers in your bed back home. Except this is the work of a man or woman, and almost scarier for that, I have to say. The monster was limited to Hogwarts- nowhere is safe if this man or woman wants you, is it?"

"Yes, because that's what you should tell our scared children," Harry chided his best friend, who only shrugged. "I think Ron's trying to say- Constant Vigilance, kids. We don't know a lot about what is going on with this, so constant vigilance is our only option, that and not giving in to the fear. We will get through this, and we'll find them."

"The problem, Uncle Harry, is that you've all said this before. Maybe Bella was right. Maybe we have to accept that they are never coming back."

"She never said that," Albus yelled angrily, jumping to his feet and staring down his cousin.

"She may as well have," Rose yelled back, breaking into tears. "Merlin, Albus, I know you love the girl, but she's a bitch. You could do so much better."

"You're the one who has been the bitch, to everyone, Rose. You've gotten cold and harsh, and you've stopped caring, except when we look like we're having fun without them. It's like you're trying to force yourself to believe that he took off without you, but you still hold out hope. I don't know what to tell you, because I don't really think Scor took off like that, without telling us. But Merlin, Rose, sometimes I just want to tell you he did and watch your face crumple in despair as your precious best friend is the cause for your grief one more time. You don't want to move on, because you don't want to blame him, I know that, but stop going back and forth. Stop blocking yourself off! We don't have much left to us but our family and Bella. The others are gone now, and we have to stick together or risk losing ourselves to the grief." Al was sobbing, on his knees before his cousin, but her face remained frozen.

"Al, I don't know what to think anymore. If you want me to believe that everything will be alright again, you'll have to give me some time. The last words I said to her, Al- you need to give me time."

"I hope you have it," Lily said softly, and the four cousins looked sadly at each other for a moment, while their fathers looked on in confusion. Then Rose broke eye contact with her cousin, and left without a word. James dropped onto the floor to comfort his sobbing brother, and Lily flew quickly up the stairs without another word.

Harry and Ron exchanged heavy looks, knowing that things couldn't get much worse.

Except that they could.


	6. Mums

**Mums**

_Harry and Ron exchanged heavy looks, knowing that things couldn't get much worse._

Except that they could.

___

The children at Hogwarts had stricter rules than ever in the wake of the disaster that was the third victim. Harry's friends were digging deeper into the past, looking for cases that could have given the witch or wizard behind these crimes their inspiration. Meanwhile, Victoire and Teddy delved into the pasts of the families of the missing, looking for connections, interviewing the parents to see if there was anyone who'd want to hurt them.

"You want to know who'd harm my son?" Draco Malfoy laughed sadly. "Who wouldn't want to hurt me, Teddy? I'm a traitor to the Death Eaters, so anyone still remaining there would want my blood, but anyone who hates Death Eaters would want to hurt me for being one of them. The only people I know for certain aren't my enemies are my wife and children, my mother, and your family. Ironically, I trust Harry Potter, my childhood nemesis, more than I trust any of my old friends. You'd do better to look at who could have a grudge against the others, and run it against my list of people who I do trust to check for people who exist on both lists and then cross them off your list of suspects."

"Like Harry, who's one of the only wizards Dudley Dursley could think of that would have a grudge against him?" Teddy grinned.

"Yeah," Draco said back, with the faintest of smiles gracing his tired features. "Harry Potter did not hurt my son. That I'd bet my life on."

___

Rose Weasley was in full rebellion mode. She arrived to class late, if she came at all, didn't turn in her homework, and spoke back to the teachers. She was in and out of detention so often that her parents started sending Howlers, something Harry had sworn he'd never do.

Minerva McGonagall had had enough by the time spring break rolled around. She called Rose into her office and had such a long talk with her that Albus momentarily panicked upon not seeing her for several hours and stormed the Ravenclaw dormitories. Afterwards, the teary-eyed girl made her reappearance, looking torn apart. She fell into her cousin's arms and sobbed for hours in a common room made empty out of respect.

After that, she'd joined Albus in his common room, waiting for Bella to come down, to make amends with her for the fight that had torn them all apart. Bella had embraced her warmly, and there had been peace between the trio up until the Easter holidays arrived, and Bella and her sister had left for home with waves for their friends who were staying behind.

Rose nearly called out to them, begged them to stay, because her gut was twisting something awful as they left. "So Al, have you been sending Bella flowers?" she teased Al, who was still waving with a goofy smile on his face.

The smile left his face quite fast. "No," he frowned.

Rose tried to twist her facial expression into a smile, even as her body tingled with apprehension. "Guess you'd better make your move on her soon, then, huh?"

"Already did," Al beamed. "She's coming with me to the next Hogsmeade visit." He looked in concern at his cousin, who wasn't as excited as she could have been at that momentous news.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm not sure, Al, but let's go back up to the school. I need to get out of here. I feel sick."

He rushed her to the hospital wing, where Madame Pomfrey looked confused. "You aren't sick in the least, child," she murmured.

"Then why do I feel like my life is about to fall apart?" she moaned into her pillow, and, completely floored, Madame Pomfrey hurried to the Headmistress and requested the presence of Astoria Malfoy. She came, flopped onto the bed next to Rose's, and promised to stay until the feeling went away.

"It could take awhile," Rose warned.

"We've got the week," Astoria replied, "and that should be all it will take."

It turned out to take less than a day before the feeling in the pit of Rose's stomach was dealt with. Unfortunately, it was dealt with due to the news that Bella Jordan and her younger sister Kristin had disappeared, a shock that brought all the Potter kids to the hospital wing, though for James it was more to watch over his cousins and siblings than for his own need. There were tears all around, and despair from more than one person. James, after so many years of brotherly fighting and harsh cruelty to Al, found himself holding on to him for dear life as Al's emotions crashed around them both, stoically held within but expressed in random bursts of pure power that rattled the entire wing. He couldn't help but fear for their lives as well as fear for his brother's sanity in this trying time, but he held on and prayed to every god he'd ever heard of for his brother back safely from his sojourn into the realms of the grieved. Fred Weasley was fighting an equally difficult battle with his cousins, and Astoria Malfoy couldn't keep up with them. It wasn't until George Weasley, receiving a panicked owl from his son, stepped through the doors of the hospital wing that the two older boys breathed huge sighs of relief and sat back to watch one of the greatest heroes of the Aftermath do his work. He scooped Rose and Albus up into his arms and carried them both over to where Lily and Hugo sat together on Lily's bed, and he cried with them.

"Aren't you supposed to make them laugh Dad?" his son asked worriedly. But George just shook his head.

"You need to cry before you can laugh. I learned that the hard way. It took a good cry to get me ready for the task I had ahead of me- making the world laugh again."

So they cried together, Rose and Al held like babies in their uncle's arms with their younger siblings curled against him on either side. And when they got up again, Rose folded into Al's strong embrace and wished it could have been otherwise, that whoever it was could have taken her, to save Albus Potter this cruel heartbreak. And maybe, if she had gone instead of the sweet and innocent Kristin and the equally sweet but a bit less innocent Bella, she'd be with Scorpius again. If he was there, she'd be with him now.

____

Lee Jordan paced his rather large office with the reigned in strength of a caged tiger. He wanted to take some action, wanted to go find his daughters. Needed to find them. And all he was allowed to do was sit here and beg the world for their safe return. It wasn't right. But if he was going to do this the right way, he had to think it through. So he pulled out a piece of parchment and began composing his message.

Wizards and witches around the country and in some places abroad turned on their wirelesses to The Watch, the radio station that Potterwatch had become after the war had ended.

"Good evening everyone, and welcome to The Watch. Being a reporter, of sorts, it's my duty to pass along stories of the magical world to people's homes. I take news from one place and send it to you, and I've tried to live up to expectations surrounding my broadcasts. You may know me from wartime, when I was the media through which the real story could reach you, and some of you may have found this station in peace, where I brought to you my honest look on life. You've heard my grief for fallen friends at the beginning of The Watch, and you were there when I came to announce that my then-girlfriend had accepted my proposal of marriage. I would have proposed over the air, but she was angry at me that week and refused to listen to the show." Lee's laugh was short, but it brought smiles to the faces of many people. "I gave you music, but I gave you pieces of myself along my journey with this station. My wedding, my joy in marriage, my frustrations in married life. My daughter's birth, her first steps. My daughter's very first word was captured on air. And then, as she grew and as the others came along, I shared that with you too, because I knew that my life was your life. If you'd past the age where you still had toddlers, you remembered those days, and if you were struggling through the terrible twos with me, then you had company. If you were looking forward to those children, well then boy were you forewarned!"

"I can't tell you how much it pained me to come here today. I think I've taken five days off in the twenty plus years I've worked here, for my wedding and each of my children's births. But this day, I didn't want to come, because I had to share my loss with you. You probably will have heard by now, but there has been another abduction, and this time the guy took my two eldest children." Lee's voice hitched, and listeners could hear the sob behind the grim laugh. "I've fought in a war. I've spat in the face of authority, reported live on the run. I've lost friends, good friends. The best of friends. I've seen death. But losing my daughters has me reduced to this pathetic man that you hear. I've suddenly seen how much my daughter takes after me, internalizing her pain, letting it out in short bursts of anger that somehow always seem to involve her fists. It has been hard, watching my daughter suffer for the loss of her closest friends, and I've told you all about that. I feel her pain now, feel the anger rise and fall within me, the need to do something and the utter despair at the thought that nothing can be done. I don't even know how to describe it, and it's dredging up memories of the loss of my best friend and terrifying me in its intensity, because she not dead, she's only missing, and if I feel this pain, is it my fatherly intuition telling me she's joined Fred?" He paused as a wave of nausea rolled over him.

"I need my daughter back, and the community needs help. Five girls are missing now, from all four Houses at Hogwarts. This isn't like the war. No one is necessarily immune. In addition to those five girls, there are also two young boys and a woman whose fates are uncertain, although there is nothing that suggests they are linked. If the cases are connected, that's eight people who could be in serious danger. If you have anything that could help the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to find these people, that help would be greatly appreciated." He hesitated for a second before beginning. "My daughters are out in that big, scary world on their own right now. There's no mum or dad there to help them. I wish I could be there, to protect them. I'd use my fists, like Bella does, and forget my magic. I would hurt whoever took them, pound them to the ground. I'd fight tooth and nail for my children, if I could. But I can't, because I'm sitting in this office. But at least they are together. Bella is strong physically, and Kristin has a strong heart. Together, they can form a shield against any evil, because one can help the other, support her. I hope they help each other through this. Bella and Kristin have medium- dark skin, black hair and dark brown eyes. Bella is athletically built while Kristin looks thin and fragile. Bella is 5'6" and Kristin is 5'2". Bella is 14, Kristin is 12. If you've seen them, please get in touch with the Magical Law Enforcement! Also missing are Dominique Weasley, age 18, tall, athletic build at time of disappearance, with strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes and a healthy dose of beauty from her Veela ancestry, Elizabeth Greengrass, age 17, short and thin with dark brown hair and grey eyes, Scorpius Malfoy, age 15, tall with blonde hair and grey eyes, Pansy Parkinson and her 15 year old son Parker Evanson, black haired and brown eyed, and 14 year old Hallie Dursley, medium height with blonde hair and green eyes. Again, if you have any knowledge of their whereabouts, please call the station or contact the Department of Magical Law Enforcement immediately."

With a sigh, he tapped his wand on the microphone, and transferred the station over to the dulcet sounds of Which Way for White Witch Wonders, the newest band of witches. A door opened, and his beautiful wife walked through the door.

Katie Jordan walked behind her husband and hugged him, her tears spilling into his hair as she kissed him on top of the head. "We'll be fine, they'll find them. We'll be a family again.


End file.
